Communication Is (and Isn’t) Easy If a business is in operation today, it’s a safe bet that their employees each have their own email account for the business. Email usually serves as a good foundation for a business’ communication strategy, as it is a convenient means of communicating internally, with any vendors you are working with, or with your clients. However, email isn’t perfect. There is the chance that miscommunications can occur when using email—and on a related note, instant messaging—and ultimately derail your productivity. To help prevent this situation, it is recommended that more complicated communications take place using video conferencing. Combining webcams and microphones, video conferencing allows people to interact with each other in a format that provides non-verbal cues that written correspondence and telephony just don’t express. With the right solution, meetings and discussions can be held between parties in different postal codes practically as if they were in the same room. Therefore, it can be considered best practice to have a comprehensive assortment of collaboration tools at your disposal for use in different circumstances. Etiquette Matters When communicating within a team, it is important that a certain level of decorum is maintained. For example, important conversations are not the place for redundancy. If a conversation drags on for too long or has far too many irrelevant details that drown out the important ones, the people who are supposed to get the message are far more likely to miss it. Make sure your team is subscribing to the KISS principle as much as they can when they are sharing important information with one another. Sarcasm also doesn’t translate well in many methods of communication, so avoiding its use is best, especially when remote work is involved. If someone misses the joke, it could create serious issues in your company culture and/or your productivity. On a related note, insist that your team keep important conversations free of jokes, memes, and emojis. Even if Grumpy Cat had some amusing commentary to offer that summed up the gist of your conversation well, there is the risk that the testy tabby will distract from an important detail. Make sure that any messages you share with your team are also very easy to understand, and if you receive some that aren’t, don’t be shy about asking for clarification. For collaboration to work properly, the right information needs to be passed along efficiently and comprehensively. This also makes proofreading especially important. Spending a few extra seconds to go over what you’ve written to make sure that there aren’t mistakes, omissions, or other factors to get in the way of what you’re trying to say helps keep you from having to backtrack and explain things again later. This can also keep incorrect presumptions from influencing the results of your efforts. Remote work can be challenging to adapt to, but the right tools and behaviors to facilitate communications can simplify things considerably. For assistance in setting up the communication solutions to make remote work a feasible option for your business, reach out to SRS Networks by calling (831) 758-3636.
A VPN provides a useful layer of security when transmitting data. It does this by forming dedicated connections over a Wide Area Network (WAN). This dedicated connection utilizes encryption to protect sensitive data. While doing so doesn’t create an impenetrable security system, it does ensure this sensitive data will be unreadable and useless if a hacker intercepts the data transmission. VPNs can be very useful to all businesses alike. Here are three reasons a VPN is right for you: Cost Effectiveness – A VPN provides a sense of security for what amounts to a minimal investment… a real no-brainer for a business that needs to keep the data it transfers safe. Client Confidence – While many may not consider this when weighing the benefits of a VPN, the confidence you will have in your data security will help impress your clients, both current and potential. An impressed client is more likely to be a loyal client. Proven Productivity – When a VPN is used, the data transferred over it is obscured from unwanted eyes. This means that a VPN can be used to help make an insecure connection safe for your data to be transferred over, allowing your staff the ability to safely work from out of the office, decreasing the impact of absences. Plus, a VPN is very user-friendly, meaning that your least tech-savvy employee can still use it effectively. A VPN is critical to a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy, especially if you operate out of more than one location or have remote workers and data therefore needs to be accessed from more than one area. To learn more about putting a VPN into place, reach out to SRS Networks! Call (831) 758-3636 today.
Communication & Collaboration Solutions This is a no-brainer, simply because you probably need these solutions regardless. If you are going to promote a remote work policy, you need to have solutions in place that will enable teamwork and productivity. Maintaining open lines of communication throughout your organization is critical, which is why using solutions designed for your business’ specific problems is the best path to take. Today there are tools like cloud-based productivity suites and Voice over Internet Protocol that can give your remote staff the tools they need to thrive. The better the tools you provide to promote collaboration, the better your product or service will ultimately be. Project Management Tools Finishing projects on time and on budget can be a pain if it isn’t well coordinated. No place is this more evident than with project managers. They need access to tools that will allow them to oversee all individual contributions and ensure they are working toward a successful end. Today, there are project management tools that integrate dozens of different types of software, instant messaging, and other collaborative tools in one cloud-based platform. By using reliable project management software, you can connect people from all over the world and create something great. Cybersecurity Keeping files safe is becoming harder and harder and costing businesses more than ever before. To ensure that remote workers are doing what they can to protect your business’ resources, they need to adhere to the cybersecurity strategy you’ve put in place. The use of multi-authentication procedures, encryption, and more can go a long way toward keeping business data safe as it comes in from multiple locations. Time-Tracking Software How else are you going to manage to make determinations on whether or not your initiatives are profitable without clear cost management? The only way to do that is to track your employees time. Time tracking also gives you the opportunity to shift priorities on the fly so that the parts of a project, or service tasks get completed by their deadlines. Managing remote workers doesn’t have to be a full-time gig. Get the technology needed to turn your remote employees into profit centers for your business. To learn more call SRS Networks today at (831) 758-3636.